Tues Oct 1.
I started out before dawn and went fast trolling up lake from Fales Ford Bridge. I was looking and searching but saw nothing but a few solo scattered fish. No bunches or schools. When it was light I ran up to Beave Ddam and looked. Nothing. I ran up to R56 and started trolling in about 35ft of water. I was seeing scattered fish but no biters. I made my way up to Lynville and got the same results.
Today there were no other boats around. I trolled all the way into Lynville and saw LOTS of bait schools but only a few fish, some in small 5-6 pods. No bites. Went back to the river and trolled, and trolled and trolled up to the courts and a little beyond but found nothing and got no bites. No birds, no breakers. So I started trolling back. Just a little past Beaver Dam heading down lake at about 11:00am I finally got the first bite. A real nice 27". But again I saw no schools or bunches, just scattered. After a second loop I picked up and ran down to Indian where I got fish last week. Not today. So after a couple of laps I trolled down toward R34. Almost right at R34A I got bit again. A good 28". Maybe things were picking up. I made a loop with nothing and kept going down lake. A couple hundred yards past R34A I got the third fish. A fine 27.5". But again I was only seeing scattered fish. That was enough, I headed in. These three fish were all caught in 35 to 40ft of water on the larger Bomber.
Wed Oct 2
Started out before dawn again but on a hot tip I headed down lake toward the Blackwater. I stopped and checked the S curve and saw only a few scattered fish. My target was Sailor's Cove and I started trolling on the outside heading in. It was just getting light. I was seeing a few fish in twos and threes and just as I started in got a spunky 20". After that nothing. I made three laps shallow and deep and caught no more and saw only scattereds. I trolled out of the cove and around up to the next small cove and saw some fish. There I got another 20". I was seeing a small loose group and started casting and jigging but nothing bit. So I ran over to Bull Run. I started seeing fish so I started trolling. I went past BU5 and looped back. Just opposite BU5 I boated an active 18". I kept going, got snagged, cleared it, and kept going. Almost to Christmas Tree Island, along the gap, I went over a HUGE SCHOOL of fish. Holy cow! The trolling got me a good 21" and once hooked I stopped the boat. I cleared the lines, boated the fish and started casting and jigging. Another guy got a fish about the same time I did on an U-rig. He started casting too. I was on the fish for a minute or two and then they were GONE! How they can disappear so fast I'll never know.I trolled a few loops there at the mouth of BR but got no bites. As I was heading up the long point at the end of CTI I went over a big bunch of fish on the bottom in about 30ft of water. I stopped and cranked in the A-rigs and got a 17" doing that. I sat on top of that point and those fish for at least 30min tossing a variety of jigs without getting one bite. I should have at least snagged one. After that frustrating episode, I headed back. At least the weather the last few weeks has been great. Maybe a little cooler... Later Joel